Hustle and Heart
by YoursAlways
Summary: A collection of one-shots featuring Kagome and the guys of Kuroko no Basket. Ratings will vary by chapter. Pairing requests and prompts are welcome.
1. Atsushi Murasakibara

Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha nor Kuroko no Basket and make no money from these writings.

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><p>Hustle and Heart<p>

Chapter One: Atsushi Murasakibara  
>Rating: K<p>

"You have to tell your fangirls to stop coming to our practices," Okamura groused at Himuro. Practice was finally over for the day and the five starting players were walking out of the gym together. "They're a distraction."

Himuro smiled good-naturedly as he said, "I'll see what I can do, but I don't know that they'll listen to me."

Sighing, Okamura continued, "It's just not fair. All the cute girls come to watch you. And what about the rest of us? Nothing."

"You might have better luck if you would get rid of your sideburns as I've suggested," Liu intoned dully.

"Shut up," Okamura pouted. "I don't see you guys with girlfriend either. I think it's because we're all too big." When his teammates shot him curious looks, he elaborated. "Cute girls are scared off by big guys like us. That's why Himuro gets all the girls. He's the shortest one on the team." Turning to heavily pat Murasakibara on the back, and causing his larger underclassman to grunt, Okamura laughed, "I guess that means you've got the worst luck of us all, huh Murasakibara?"

Looking up from rummaging through the bag of snacks that he'd bought before practice, Murasakibara hummed a little before saying, "But I have a girlfriend." It took a couple of steps for Murasakibara and Himuro to realize that the rest of the team had stopped dead in their tracks. "What?" The tall center asked.

"When did you get a girlfriend?!" Fukui asked in shock.

Murasakibara seemed to think for a moment before turning to Himuro with a small frown. "How long has it been, Muro-chin?"

Doing some quick calculations in his head, Himuro looked up at his teammate and answered, "It's been a while. Almost three months, maybe?"

"Himuro!" Fukui turned on the second year. "You knew about it?"

"Of course," Himuro answered as though it would be obvious. "We spend a lot of our free time together, after all."

Before Fukui could ask anymore questions, Okamura snapped out of his disbelief and jumped into the conversation. "_How_ did you get a girlfriend?!"

Murasakibara blinked twice before lazily explaining, "She's in the cooking club. I was walking by their room one day and something smelled really good. When I went inside, they were making fudge. She shared with me when it was done. She always shared when I went back, and we decided to go on a date one day. She's really cute."

The older players stared at Murasakibara warily. They knew that he usually favored tall girls, and they weren't sure how many girls in their school were really tall and could still be called "cute" instead of "pretty."

"Is she cute, Himuro?" Okamura asked seriously.

Nodding, Himuro confidently answered, "She really is pretty cute." He heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl coming from beside him and turned to see his tall teammate glaring down at him. "Don't worry, I was just agreeing with you," Himuro told his friend. "I'm not going to try to steal her away or anything."

Before anymore questions could be asked, the five young men heard a side door open on the main building to their left before a voice called out. "Atsushi!"

Murasakibara looked up and smiled gently. "Kago-chin," he responded with a slight wave.

Kagome jogged towards the group having spotted her boyfriend - because really, who could miss him? - but slowed when she noticed the other young men staring at her. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all," Himuro speaks up with a polite smile. "The rest of the team just found out that Murasakibara had a girlfriend. They were a little surprised."

"Oh," Kagome says in relief. She was afraid that she'd walked into something serious. Walking over to Murasakibara's side, Kagome bowed shortly as she said, "I'm Kagome Higurashi. It's nice to meet the rest of Atsushi's team."

The three upperclassmen stared at the petite girl beside their giant teammate, and they just didn't seem to match up. She barely came up to Murasaki's chest, the top of her head still several inches below his collarbones. And aside from being on the short side, she had a small frame to match.

"Uh, nice to meet you," Fukui finally responded.

Seeing that introductions probably wouldn't get much further than that on their own, Himuro stepped in. "Kagome, this is Kenichi Okamura, Wei Liu, and Kensuke Fukui, the rest of our starting team."

Before Kagome had a chance to respond, Murasakibara reached down and tapped a plastic container that Kagome had in one hand. "Kago-chin, what's this?"

Kagome craned her neck to look up at her abnormally tall boyfriend as she smiled brightly. "It's my latest recipe! The cooking club is going to have a charity bake sale soon as part of our volunteer work. I brought the result of my latest batch for you to taste test." Removing the plastic lid, she held the container up little higher.

Murasakibara carefully picked up one of the cookies and examined it. There were little blue spots in it. Taking an experimental bite, he was pleasantly surprised. Pushing the rest of the cookie into his mouth, he asked, "What kind are they?"

"Blueberry cheesecake. Do you like them?" Humming with a small nod, Murasakibara reached down for another cookie. Kagome smiled before turning to look at the other basketball players. "Do you guys want to try one?"

Always happy to accept something homemade by a pretty girl, the rest of the team started to step closer only to pause. Murasakibara quickly bent down to pick up Kagome, startling her in the process. He had her situated so that she was sitting on his forearm, arms wrapped around his neck for balance. "Kago-chin," he whined. "Don't give away my cookies."

"But there are plenty," she argued. "And you almost made me drop them! I've told you not to just pick me up like that."

"I'm walking you home today, though," he pointed out. "Your legs are so short that you have to run to keep up with me. It's easier to just carry you."

Kagome sighed as she looked down into Murasakibara's violet eyes. Sitting on level with his chest, her head was just a little above his. "Or you could just walk slower?"

"No," Murasakibara drawled out. "Too much trouble. Carrying you is easier." He reached up and took another cookie from the container.

"I have to get heavy after a while," she said.

Shaking his head, Murasakibara disagreed. "You barely weigh anything. You should eat more," he told her as he picked up another cookie and pressed it to her lips.

Kagome rolled her eyes as she bit the treat and waited for him to let go so that she could grab it herself. "But then you might not be able to carry be anymore," she pointed out.

"I'll carry Kago-chin anywhere she wants," he told her as he tilted his head up to place a small peck on Kagome's jaw. "Let's go to your place now. I need help with my history homework."

"Fine, fine," Kagome told him as he turned to walk away from the rest of his team without another word to them. Kagome on the other hand, turned back to wave at the small group. "Sorry about the cookies!" She called out to them. "You should come to the bake sale though! There'll be plenty as long as you get there before Atsushi!"

Himuro tried not to chuckle at the expressions on the rest of his teammate's faces. "They're a strange couple," he admitted. "But they work. I think she likes taking care of him, and he likes being taken care of."

The first to come out of his thoughts, Fukui asked, "Does she not live in the student dorms?" Yosen was a large school, and because many of their students came from all over, most of the student body lived in the dormitories.

A little surprised by the question, Himuro shook his head. "No, she lives off campus with Coach Araki." When the other's eyes widened at this news, he continued, "Couldn't you tell just by looking at her? She's the coach's niece."

"And Coach Araki is okay with them dating?" Liu asked curiously.

Himuro opened his mouth to reply only to close it again. Thinking about it, the coach often worked late and hadn't seemed to treat Murasakibara any differently lately. "I'm actually not certain that the coach knows they're dating," he admitted.

With that realization, the same thought swept through the four Yosen basketball players at the same time.

If Coach Araki ever found out Murasakibara was dating her niece, the giant was likely a dead man, and the team might be in need of a new center.


	2. Seijurou Akashi

Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha nor Kuroko no Basket and make no money from these writings.

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><p>Hustle and Heart<p>

Chapter Two: Seijurou Akashi  
>Rating: K+<br>Prompt: Empress  
>Requested by: ShikiKira and kakashixangela<p>

It had been a long day and Akashi was glad to finally be home. Since taking over his family's business, he was beginning to understand why his father had always seemed so high-strung and why he'd pushed for excellence in everything that Akashi did. But when he was home, he was able to relax. It was a place where meetings and paperwork and contracts didn't exist.

He was about to start up the stairs so that he could change clothes when something caught his attention in his peripheral vision. Glancing into the large living room to his right, Akashi lifted a red brow at the pair of legs dangling over the arm of one of the couches. He loosened his tie a little as he stepped into the room and walked to stand behind the couch where the aforementioned legs were resting. A small smile tugged at his lips.

She made quite a sight, his wife. She was lying on her back on the couch with her knees hooked over the arm. Arms folded over her stomach and black hair spilling over the edge of the cushions and likely onto the floor, she was perfectly still and breathing evenly while a small stack of bound papers covered her face. He looked up to the area surrounding her and saw that it was a flurry of papers covering the coffee table and floor. It could only be expected though. It was time for finals at the university where she taught history, the same university where they met as students, and she was trying to get all of the final papers graded.

Akashi made his way around the opposite end of the couch and gently sat by her head before he lifted the papers from her sleeping face. She hadn't even bothered to change clothes after getting home. She'd fallen asleep in her black slacks and cream colored blouse. "Kagome," he called to her in a soft tone while brushing aside some of her bangs. She mumbled a little in her sleep, turned her face towards his hand, and smiled, but she still didn't wake up.

His smile began to widen a little more as he thought about the fit his father would have if he saw the lady of the house sleeping in such a way. In the beginning, his father had been vehemently against him dating Kagome and those feelings only intensified when Akashi had announced his intentions to propose. After all, his father had spent years compiling a very short list of young ladies from high class families whom he deemed acceptable to marry into their family.

All through his childhood, Akashi had done what his father had told him. He took extra lessons, was always top of his class and head of his extracurriculars, attended the best schools, and made friends with all of the right people. He'd been the perfect some that he'd been expected to be, and he'd never complained about the burden or pressure. But when his father had demanded that he end his relationship with Kagome, Akashi had pushed back against family tradition for the first time.

Kagome wasn't from the world he'd been raised in, and he supposed that was one of the many things that he loved about her. She was so different from everyone he'd known while growing up. While she was polite and could mingle at parties as well as any socialite, but when they were at home and away from prying eyes, she wasn't afraid to relax and be herself. She laughed freely and loved to play and tease. While it had been that game against Kuroko in high school that had snapped him out of his more frigid demeanor, it was meeting Kagome and getting to know her that taught him how to relax and have fun again. Or maybe truly for the first time.

One argument between Akashi and his father had gotten so heated that he'd threatened to just elope with the woman he loved. His father had immediately threatened to disown him, but Akashi had expect it and called the bluff. He was well aware that as the Akashi family's only son and not having any cousins, he was the only heir that his father had to choose from. It was either disown his son and had the family business over to someone outside of the family or give into his son's demands. He'd caved in the end and Akashi had felt quite superior for some time after that.

He'd proposed to Kagome not long after, and the rest was history.

Leaning down, Akashi placed a kiss on Kagome's forehead and spoke a little louder than he had earlier. "Kagome."

Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tightly before blinking sleepily in an effort to wake up. Looking up, she saw two eyes, one red and one gold, staring down at her. "Seijurou," she murmured in a drowsy voice. "When did you get home?"

"Not long ago," he answered as he moved so that she could sit up and stretch. "How many more papers do you have left to grade?"

Scrubbing her hands over her face, Kagome groaned. "I'm not even sure," she confessed. She looked at the mess around her and sighed. "I need a better way to organize all of these." Pausing a moment, she turned to face Akashi and reached out to take his hand. "I'm sorry I've been so busy with all of this lately. I feel like we've barely seen each other."

And that was another thing that he loved about her. She had never been afraid to look him in the eye. Many people found his gaze unsettling and wouldn't hold eye contact for long. They were intimidated. And for a long time, he'd liked it that way. He thought that was the way things should be. But then she came along. Kagome had treated him as an equal from day one. She couldn't be intimidated and wouldn't kowtow to him. While it had irritated him a little in the beginning, he now had more respect for her than just about anyone else.

Akashi slid across the couch to be closer to Kagome and pulled her hand, still holding his, to his lips. She was different and she wasn't conventional or traditional or at all who his family had expected him to choose as his wife, but she was perfect. She was funny and intelligent and beautiful and she made him happy. She was his queen, his empress, and he would be sure to always treat her as such. "Then let's go out to dinner tonight," Akashi proposed with his mouth still close enough to Kagome's hand that his lips brushed her skin as he spoke.

Kagome smiled and shook her head. "I still have too much work here."

"We'll go to dinner, have a nice meal, catch up from the last few days, and when we come home I'll help you finish grading your papers," he laid out his plan.

Casting him a teasing look, Kagome smiled as she hedged, "I don't know. Some of these papers are almost painful to read. Are you sure you're up for it?"

"I'm always up for a challenge," Akashi smirked as he leaned in closer to his love, slipped one hand behind her neck, and pulled her in for a deep kiss. She should know how much he loved new challenges. She was constantly challenging him, herself. And it was just one more thing on the long list of things that he loved about her, his queen, his empress.


End file.
